THE BIBLE-THUMPER’S CHOICE

According to exit polls taken after the 2016 election, the overwhelming favorite for president among those people describing themselves as Christian “born-again” or “evangelical” or just plain fanatically religious believers, was Donald Trump. According to pollsters, Trump garnered nearly 80% of the evangelical vote. Now one might ask why people who are supposedly so heavily invested in the teachings of Christ, would choose a man who was caught on tape bragging about grabbing a woman’s “pussy,” who bragged about having numerous affairs, who has been married 3 times, and who had made the comment that TV news anchor Megyn Kelly “had blood coming out of her whatever” when she made him upset during a TV presidential debate. At first blush it would appear counter-intuitive that Trump should be such a huge favorite among these religious extremists, if you will. But on second thought, it was perfectly rational that the bible-thumpers supported such a candidate.

The first point to understand is that organized religions have nothing to do with God. They are totally man-made inventions for the acquisition of power by those supposedly assuming the mantle of God’s spokespersons. Whether it’s Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, or any other current ism, they all have the same tenets in common. The leaders of those religions pretend to speak for God, and thereby issue proclamations as to what is acceptable or unacceptable human behavior in the eyes of “the invisible man” as comedian George Carlin once expressed it. Unacceptable behavior according to one’s religious leaders can lead to big trouble since these clergy often hold the power of life or death over virtually all individuals in the populace. In the Muslim religion, not obeying Allah as Imams dictate, can lead to to hands or arms being chopped off, or whippings, or finally, beheadings. And its not just Islamic terrorist organizations performing such atrocities. Ruling governments in many Moslem countries also sanction such penalties to those considered as being non-believers. Such is the power of organized religion.

In Europe, once Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, A.D., the Christian religious hierarchy assumed the same powers and control over peoples lives as had the secular royalty that ruled most countries. Unbelievers were considered heretics to be burned at the stake. Jews that had been driven out of their homeland by Roman legions, and who had thus fled to Europe, were called “Christ killers” by Catholic popes in the Vatican, and subject to enormous persecution throughout the centuries. The Spanish Inquisition in the 16th and 17th centuries burned Jews at the stake for not believing that Jesus was God. But Inquisition leaders claimed it was for their own good. After being thus murdered, these unfortunates could then enter heaven with their disbelief purified from their souls. And it wasn’t just Catholic Jew-hating. Martin Luther, who was the founder of Protestantism, was notoriously anti-semitic, and printed tract after tract that hung on church portals, denouncing Jews as Christ killers. Thus, through the centuries, virtually all of Europe was infected with the virus of Christian anti-semitism. One could even make a cogent argument that the Holocaust could never have taken place if the disease of anti-semitism was not allowed to spread so virulently throughout all of Europe, century after century. Even today in Europe, it’s emerging from the shadows it retreated to 70 years ago, back into the sunlight.

It’s with that background that it’s understandable as to why the bible thumpers in this country supported Trump so vigorously in 2016. The see him as a man who could bring their long-held dream to fruition of turing the United States into a Christian theocracy. The way many Mid-East countries are Moslem theocracies. The holy grail of the bible thumpers would be the abolition of legalized abortion and gay rights in the U.S. The election of Trump is already paying them dividends since he has put the overturning of Roe V. Wade almost within their grasp. Trump’s nomination of antiabortion Justice Neal Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was approved by the Senate, and, thus, Trump needs to replace only one more Justice before a woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy becomes history in most states. It shouldn’t take very much longer since Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in her 80s and obviously can’t hang on forever. Along the way the bible thumpers also fervently pray that a Trump remodeled Supreme Court will overturn previous edicts allowing the existence of gay marriage and other gay rights, thereby effectively shoving homosexuals back into the closet. Way back in the closet. If those two scenarios transpire, the U.S. is more that half there toward establishing a Christian theocracy. Fun times ahead for all you no-goodnik non-believers.

So, as you can see, it really didn’t matter to the bible thumpers that Trump has led an unholy, lewd, and profane private life. As long as he could deliver them their long held dream of an American Christian theocracy, he was jake with them. When Trump made a campaign stop at Liberty University, which is a fundamentalist Baptist college in Virginia, and pretended to be a religious extremist like them, the bible thumpers knew they had their man. And, so far, life in the U.S. appears to be unfolding in that context.